Thursday, May 18, 2006

More articles on generation Y research project

Here's another article form the Yorkshire post.Young 'happy with a life without God'Maggie Stratton

YOUNG people are quite happy with a life without God or spirituality, according to new research for the Church of England.Authors of the Making Sense of Generation Y were shocked to find not only did under 25's think the church "corrupt", "traditionalist" and all "socks and sandal" but also had no desire to find a transcendent alternative in their favoured pursuits.Clubbing, for example, was not a way of " transcending oneself to a deeper reality", but was simply a good night out.The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu said the report must be seen as a wake-up call."This book stresses the need for investment in relationships with young people and for 'patient sowing' of the Gospel story into our culture. There are no 'instant solutions', but there are things we, empowered by the Holy Spirit, can – and must – do," the Archbishop says in the book's foreword.Making Sense of Generation Y is based on interviews with 120 young people aged 15 to 25 who have little or no connection with the Christian faith.The number of young people who go to church has halved since 1979, and now less than seven per cent of 15- to 19-year-olds and five per cent of those between 20 and 29 attend church.The authors set out believing that even if the young had little knowledge of the Christian faith they would have other spiritual or religious yearnings, but found even discussions about the September 11 terror attacks in America failed to prompt mention of religion.But they did not find the young people interviewed for the book were disenchanted or lost in a meaningless world. Instead the young people found the world meaningful as it was."The data indicated that they found meaning and significance in the reality of everyday life, which the popular arts helped them to understand and imbibe," the book says.The researchers found young people found happiness primarily through the family and had little sense of sin or fear of death. They were, however, afraid of growing old.The mission adviser for youth and emerging Church at the Church Mission Society, Jonny Baker, said yesterday: "This book is astonishing. Putting it bluntly, it suggests that many of our assumptions about young people, their world view and the quest for spirituality are wrong. This has implications for the future of mission, youth ministry and the Church."Making Sense of Generation Y will be unveiled at the National Christian Resource Exhibition today.One of the authors of the book, Bob Mayo, said: "The people we talked to were happy with life, they were enjoying themselves but were doing this with an almost complete ignorance of Christianity – a total lack of a working knowledge."That is the alarming thing for the Church."The positive thing is that they are not opposed to what the Church is saying, it is just that they have not been exposed to it."In many cases they seem interested but no one has ever talked to them about it before."09 May 2006